1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus and, more particularly, to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus arranged to use a record bearing medium housed in a container which is provided with a counter device for indicating an amount of recorded information or the remnant recording capacity of the medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of the art of recording and/or reproducing apparatus using, for example, flexible magnetic discs in cassettes and recording video signals representing still pictures on the magnetic disc contained in this disc cassette and/or reproducing the video signals from the disc, there has been a proposal for equipping the disc cassette with a counter device for indicating the amount of recorded information, namely, video signals (or the number of recorded tracks), on the disc, or the remnant recording capacity of the disc. And, in this case, the recording and/or reproducing apparatus adapted to use the cassette equipped with such counter device has to be equipped with counter drive means for driving the counter device of the cassette in response to the movement of a recording and/or reproducing magnetic head relative to the disc by head moving means.
In case the apparatus, using the cassette equipped with the counter device, is made to operate with the selection of the recording and reproducing modes, it is in the recording mode of the apparatus that the counter drive means must be enabled, but in the reproducing mode, this counter drive means must be disabled. In other words, if the counter drive means is left enabled even in the reproducing mode, it results that the counter device of the cassette is driven to move in response to the movement of the head for reproducing. This causes the indicated value of the counter device before the reproduction, that is, the memorized information concerning the amount of recorded signals or the position for the next signal recording on the disc, to shift at random. Then, when it is desired to proceed with the next recording operation, the counter device of which the indicated value concerning the amount of recorded signals or where the preceding recording operation ended is uncertain no longer assists the operator in making sure that recording starts from the position next to the last of the recorded tracks on the disc. Therefore, a problem arises in that, for example, double recording of signals may take place on same of the recorded tracks, or that the next recording operation is initiated at a position spaced by a longer distance than necessary beyond the last recorded track.
Additionally, such a recording and/or reproducing apparatus has many other features which can be improved in respect to, for example, the construction and arrangement of the head moving means, or the various kinds of adjustment of the head to the magnetic disc.